1. Field
The disclosure relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for the verification of cryptographic key.
2. Background
Symmetric key cryptography is a cryptographic mechanism in which a sender and receiver of a message share a single, common cryptographic key that is used to encrypt and decrypt the message. The single common cryptographic key is referred to as a symmetric cryptographic key. In contrast to symmetric key cryptography, public-key cryptography uses two cryptographic keys—a public key to encrypt messages and a private key to decrypt the messages. Symmetric key cryptography may also be referred to secret key cryptography and symmetrically encrypted data is data that has been encrypted with a symmetric cryptographic key.
The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is cryptographic mechanism that can be used to protect electronic data. The AES uses a type of symmetric cryptographic key called a symmetric block cipher that can encrypt and decrypt data. Encryption can convert data to an unintelligible form called encrypted data, and decrypting the encrypted data converts the data back into its original form. The AES algorithm is capable of using cryptographic keys of 128, 192, and 256 bits to encrypt and decrypt data in blocks of 128 bits. Further details of the AES may be found in the publication, “Specification for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES),” Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 197, Nov. 26, 2001.
To further address the issues of electronic data storage protection, the “IEEE Std 1619.1” standard provides mechanisms for data protection by specifying encryption with authentication and length-expansion. The IEEE Std 1619.1 standard provides methods suitable for ensuring the privacy and integrity of stored data within applications requiring a high level of assurance. To this end, the IEEE Std 1619.1 standard specifies the AES cipher as used in the Galois/counter mode (GCM) of authentication and encryption of data. Further details of the IEEE Std 1619.1 standard may be found in the publication, “IEEE P1619.1™/D8 Draft Standard Architecture for Encrypted Variable Block Storage Media,” Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., June 2006. Further details of GCM may be found in the publication, “The Galois/Counter Mode of Operation (GCM)” by David A. McGrew and John Viega, May 31, 2005.
A cryptographic module that supports GCM may use the GCM algorithm that uses AES with 256-bit key, and such an algorithm may be referred to as “AES-256-GCM”. The AES-256-GCM uses key identifiers that can be used by certain decryptors to determine cryptographic keys. The AES-256-GCM also uses initialization vectors (IV), where counter values determined from initialization vectors may be used in combination with cryptographic keys to encrypt and decrypt data. AES-GCM may refer to the usage of the GCM with AES with keys of any length.